Frank Borzellieri, Catholic School Principal, Linked to White Supremacist Group

July 31, 2011

Frank Borzellieri, a conservative writer and educator with ties to a white supremacist organization, is the principal of a Bronx Catholic school where most of the students are black or Latino, reports the Daily News. Borzellieri, 48, has been running Our Lady of Mount Carmel School for two years. He’s also the author of a book called Don’t Take It Personally: Race, Immigration, Crime and Other Heresies which outlines charming viewpoints of his like how “diversity is a weakness,” and he’s a former Queens school board member whose positions included a push to ban a biography of Martin Luther King Jr. from schools.

The Daily News has a laundry list of Borzellieri’s frightening political efforts, like trying to ban school employees from mentioning homosexuality and an attempt to ban all “anti-American” literature from school libraries. These seem almost cuddly, however, in comparison with his book and the white supremacist magazine he’s frequently written for.

Let’s start with Borzellieri’s book. (He’s written others, by the way, including Lynched: A Conservative’s Life on a New York City School Board.) Here’s a passage detailing part of Borzellieri’s argument that black people are naturally less intelligent than whites:

On average, blacks score lower on every conceivable aptitude test than whites and Asians…These results have not changed despite decades of heroic efforts to uplift blacks to [sic] and to tinker with the tests.

But rather than acknowledge what every (yes, every) study and informed scientist has put forth, the government’s official position is that blacks fall short because of white wickedness. Oppression and discrimination by whites are responsible, not inherent shortcomings. (Asians, who outperform whites, have a significant history of discrimination in America, but that’s an inconvenient fact.)

Then there’s Borzellieri’s output for American Renaissance, a monthly magazine which bills itself as “America’s premiere publication of racial-realist thought.” The website describes the publication’s beliefs thusly:

Race is an important aspect of individual and group identity. Of all the fault lines that divide society — language, religion, class, ideology — it is the most prominent and divisive. Race and racial conflict are at the heart of the most serious challenges the Western World faces in the 21st century.

The problems of race cannot be solved without adequate understanding. Attempts to gloss over the significance of race or even to deny its reality only make problems worse. Progress requires the study of all aspects of race, whether historical, cultural, or biological. This approach is known as race realism.

And he has a blog (“Iconoclast of the Right”) which contains everything you might expect. Attempts to reach Borzellieri and the school were unsuccessful.

The pastor of Our Lady of Mount Carmel, Rev. Eric Rapaglia, told the Daily News that he was aware of Borzellieri’s views when he hired him, but that “A lot of his ideas would actually benefit minorities.” They’re running quite the school up there.